1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to techniques for presenting broadcast and other information.
2. Related Art
Multiple sources of information are available for recipients at their homes and offices, including traditional broadcast information sources such as standard broadcast radio and television (available by transmission to a receiver in the home or office), and cable and satellite television (possibly encrypted, scrambled, or otherwise restricted for delivery); traditional switched information sources such as telephone services; and traditional recorded information sources such as audio and video recorded tapes, compact discs and laser discs, and other recorded media.
In addition to these traditional information sources, more recently available information sources include enhanced television services such as "closed caption" (sometimes made available using a television vertical blanking interval or other broadcast or narrowcast data delivery paths), "picture-in-picture" and related techniques for presenting more than one television channel for simultaneous viewing, presentation of textual information using a cable or satellite television system, and videoconferencing; enhanced telephone services such as paging, voicemail or voice messaging, voice response systems, and cellular telephone service; and networking services such as electronic mail, access to the world wide web, and other internet and intranet resources.
Some of these enhanced services have included transmitting information in a variety of formats, including stock quotations and similar financial data in real time, textual information serving to complement a television broadcast (such as subtitles), and information in computer formats (such as HTML code). However, even in circumstances where multiple information sources share a common communication channel (such as the television vertical blanking interval or a radio or television subcarrier), in general each information source has been associated with its own information format, its own selection of which information is to be presented, and its own technique for retrieving and using that information.
One problem which has arisen in the art is that, in combination from all these sources, the amount of information, the variety of forms in which information is delivered and stored, and the variety of techniques for receiving and selecting information, can overload the capability of the ordinary recipient to manage and record. The amount and variety of information sources and delivered information can outstrip the capability of the ordinary recipient to organize that information, to select among and assign priorities to that information for review, and to record and respond to that information.
It would be advantageous to provide a single point of contact which an ordinary recipient (one without advanced technical training) could use to receive information from variety of information sources, whether traditional, enhanced, or more recent, and a single technique or interface which an ordinary recipient could use for selecting among and assigning priorities to information for review, reviewing information, and recording and responding to that information.
Known methods for delivering information to recipients include interactive presentation of textual information to a user (much like using a television picture tube as a computer monitor), in which the user receives textual information from a cable or satellite central location and transmits commands or selections back to that central location. For example, some hotel in-house cable systems enable users to review the hotel's event schedules, movie schedules, or billing information. Some hotel in-house cable systems enable users to determine whether there are voicemail messages waiting for them (but they must often use the hotel in-house telephone system to retrieve those messages). Some cable and satellite television broadcast systems, and some video cassette recorders, provide on-screen displays of television program schedules.
However, these interactive methods of using television transmission technology merely substitute for known methods of presenting text and other information on a computer monitor, and do not serve to significantly improve the capability of the user to manage and record information from a variety of information sources. Rather, interactive use of television transmission technology simply provides yet another heterogeneous information source, with yet another interface technique.
Known methods for delivering information to recipients also include periodic presentation of information to a user, in response to selections by the user from a menu of items of likely interest. For example, known services on the internet select a information from delayed stock quotation sources or newswire sources, and present that information to the user, either periodically in a separate window or on a computer monitor. The "PointCast" service also presents information, like a "screen saver", in response to inactivity by the user. In some cases, the information presented may include links to further information, which the user may select to review that further information.
However, these methods of passively filtering information available on a network merely substitute for known methods of searching databases and other information, and do not serve to significantly improve the capability of the user to manage and record information from a variety of information sources. Rather, passively filtering information available on a network simply provides yet another heterogeneous information source, with yet another interface technique. Moreover, being responsive to inactivity by the recipient is a drawback for broadcast media, for which inactivity by the recipient is a common mode of behavior.
In addition to providing a single point of contact for receiving information from a variety of information sources, it would also be advantageous to provide a substantial degree of automated knowledge at the point of contact, so that a device at the point of contact could perform tasks related to selection, assignment of priorities, and organization of incoming information on behalf of the recipient and in response to the recipient's preferences.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a method and system for receiving information from a variety of sources, both interactive and passive, and for engagingly presenting that information to a recipient. This advantage is achieved in an embodiment of the invention in which a background element operates to interact with, combine, filter and prioritize multiple information sources, possibly using one information source to prioritize other. This advantage is also achieved in an embodiment of the invention in which a foreground element presents information to the recipient when active, but not when inactive, and the background operates even when the foreground is inactive, to trigger the foreground to engage the recipient to select and view that new information.